Movie Fuel: Forrest Gump

As I figured it would go, we devoured yesterday’s turkey before photographing it. Here are the sad remains of the juicy gobbler.

Jy and I have a long standing conflict with some a good friend of ours. (Hi Kevin!) He believes the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1994 should have went to Pulp Fiction, while we standby the actual winner, Forrest Gump. Where do you stand? Here’s what Mr. Movie Fuel has to say…

Forrest Gump (1994)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright, Sally Field

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

When I was younger, I always sat really close to the screen (fourth row, four seats in), I never understood exactly why, but I remember years later a professor in a film class I was taking mentioning, “movies are like your dreams and you wouldn’t want anything to come between you and your dreams,” and it just kind of all clicked.

Growing up films were my great escape from reality, so going to the movies played a significant part in my life early on and sometimes still does. Every person who enjoys viewing films on a regular basis has a set standard of criteria in which they base their viewing experience on. My personal criteria for evaluating the quality of a film is simple; how well did I relate to the film and did it meet the standard in which it set based on its genre. For example; Did the comedy make me laugh? Did a horror movie scare me? Did the mystery make me think?

The best films are often the ones that more people can relate to and succeed at many levels with many age groups and serve the ultimate purpose, which is to entertain. This is the type of film that is universally praised and enjoyed, Forrest Gump is one of those movies. Spanning over thirty years of the title characters life, from the 1950’s to the 80’s, we are treated with action, comedy, drama, romance and so much more. On the surface, this is a fantastical film where a simpleton changes the course of history through his achievements; both intentional and accidental. Widely entertaining, with an array of fun special effects, catchy music that communicates time and place and perfectly placed humor throughout, elevates the film to a short list of movies I could watch multiple times with the same enjoyment.

Digging deeper, Forrest Gump is a story about trust, love and the loss of a generation’s innocence through the childlike eyes of our main character who maintains his throughout. It is also about finding our way in life and having a purpose greater than ourselves and our achievements. Whether you are viewing it for the first time or the seventeenth, for pure entertainment or nostalgic purposes, Forrest Gump is the perfect heartwarming film that meets everyone’s criteria.

Gump Treat

Forrest’s “Mama” always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” Well, let me tell you what I got when I made this parfait, two kids going ape-poo-poo. They were both freaking out, yelling and asking to eat my creation. Max (my one year old) was shouting, “Nummanoes,” his toddler word for food. This was an accidental parfait. It was supposed to be chocolate cranberry chunky bars.

I had heard about chunky bars on Martha Stewart’s Sirius station. Sandy Gluck, the host for Everyday Food passed the recipe off as it was so simple. Perfect, I’d just look up the recipe when I got home. One problem, it was nowhere to be found on the internet! If you can’t find something on the internet, then it just may not exist. So, I recreated from memory and was planning to come out with something that looked like this…

How fun I thought, little chocolate bars with a surprise inside, cranberry. Yummy and in-season. Let me show you what happened instead, mkay?

Looks okay so far, right? Guess what? It tastes pretty good too.

I remembered to bake at 350, just like Sandy said. Twenty minutes later, I thought I would freeze the pan for a bit. Then, off to the fridge it went.

Thirty minutes later, I was peeling ooey gooey sludge from a baking pan and off parchment paper…with a knife. Still tasty, but not in photographable form. When dessert goes wrong, throw it on ice cream or with yogurt. I piled on the whip cream for show and to taunt my kids a bit. The three of us went out back and ate half the cup up. Messy and delicious.

I wish Mama would have said something about recipes. Maybe, “Recipes are like perms, sometimes they turn out beautifully and sometimes everything just goes to crap.” Ah, Mama has a way with words.

The next time you see Forrest Gump in your TV Guide, I suggest you go get yourself some nice southern sweet tea, a box of tissue and just buy the box of chocolates. One of my favorite expressions I have learned from Facebook, le sigh.

Next Thursday is special at FoodItForward! It’s Thanksgiving, it’s a DOUBLE FEATURE Movie & Meals day, but most importantly it is my 100th post and I have something special for you! Happy Black Friday Eve-eve-eve-eve-eve-eve-eve-eve.